Focus groups have been completed with postgraduate students as a part of our research.
'That’s Me! Eliminating barriers to postgraduate research study in the West Midland’s is a project that aims to explore the postgraduate research experience, from starting at the application stage to after completion.
We are particularly interested in the experiences of global majority Postgraduate level students that is, people who identify as coming from a Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic background.
Questions in focus groups were asked such as:
- Have you ever considered applying for a PhD?
- What steps do you think you'd need to take to pursue a PhD?
- What do you see as the challenges in pursuing a PhD?
The That’s Me project team invited Global Majority Masters' students, from ADM, BLSS and CEBE, to share their views on applying for a doctoral degree at BCU and how this process could be made fairer and more inclusive.
Master's students were encouraged to:
- Share insights on application processes, including how we can better publicise PhD opportunities to Masters' students.
- Help us shape a more inclusive application and induction processes for future researchers.
PGRs were encouraged to:
- Share insights on application processes.
- Reflect on the early stages of doctoral studies, including induction.
- Help us shape a more inclusive application and induction processes for future researchers.
This opportunity was open to postgraduate at BCU who identify as Global Majority. “Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called to think of themselves as belonging to the global majority. It refers to people who are Black, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities'” - follow this link for more information on the definition.
